New developments in hip hop technology

We don’t do too many tech articles over here at 4080, but I’m feeling it today. Fu-quon and I have dabbled in some home recordings before, so I feel a soft spot for really ghetto recording studios. It’s surprising what you can do with a laptop, CoolEdit, and a mic duct-taped to the top of a lamp.

But times are changing, and the products for home recording are getting higher and higher end. These days, you can make a pretty dope sounding record in your mom’s basement and no one has to be the wiser. If you just sold that double of Curtis Mayfield’s Curtis and have $40 laying around, what are you going to do with it? Why not buy a gift for your little niece/nephew (or yourself, I guess).

For one, you can pick up Mattel’s upcoming UCreate Music (pictured at the top right). This little toy is super basic, but sometimes those are the best toys. It lets you loop, record samples with a mic, and comes with a bunch of already recorded samples. According to Gizmodo, you can actually share this stuff online through the UCreate site. With a little ingenuity, I’m positive you can figure out a way to easily transfer tracks back and forth to this little device. Either way, cheapo little faux-MPC for the kids who want to experiment.

And if you’re a step up, studio-wise, but still like to fool around entirely digitally, you can hit up Shure’s new USB mic adapter. If you’ve already got a fancy-pants condenser mic from Shure you can just grab the X2u adapter. Or, if you want to invest, you can get one of their high-end USB mics too. Both of these run a little over $200 USD. But man I bet your track would sound better with that thing. Hell, you probably should avoid our lamp/mic stand idea and go for the real deal if you had one of these.

So get out there and find a copy of an audio program (Audacity, if you want something free) and start making beats and rhymes. Send ’em to us and we’ll post ’em for you.